


A New Kind of Disorder

by phinnia



Series: Delta Quadrant Babies [6]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 22:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16689967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phinnia/pseuds/phinnia
Summary: In which the lizard babies teach the Borg kids how to have fun.





	A New Kind of Disorder

“They’re not going to bite you, you know.   They’re just kids, like you.”  
  
Shannon looked at Harry, and she looked at the Borg children.   “But Harry, they’re … they’re … “   She leans in closely and whispers in his ear.   “They’re _boring_.”  
  
Harry concentrates on the root he is digging and tries very hard not to laugh.   “Maybe they just don’t remember how to have fun.”  
  
“‘Cause they were ‘simmilated?”  
  
“Exactly!”   Harry says, smiling at her.   “Why don’t you go _show_ them how to have fun?   Maybe that will help them remember.”  
  
“‘Kay.”   And she runs across the ground-cover of the planet to talk to Mezoti.     
  
Tom walks over and gives Harry a kiss behind the ear.   “How long do you think _that’s_ going to last?”  he says, inclining his head at Shannon talking to the young Borg girl.  
  
“Well, she told me they were boring.”   Harry says, trying not to laugh.     
  
“Well, of course they are.   The Borg have no use for fun.  It doesn’t fit into perfection.”  
  
“But she didn’t say it out loud, so she’s more polite than you are.”   Harry murmurs.     
  
“Polite?   _Moi?_ ”   Tom looked so innocent that Harry couldn’t help but laugh at him.   “I’m always polite.   And that’s why you married me.”  
  
“I thought it was the size of your -“  
  
“That’s the _other_ reason.”   Tom grins at him.  
  
  
  
“Lieutenant Paris.”  
  
Tom sighed and turned around.   “Seven.”  
  
“Your daughter.”  
  
“Which daughter?   I have two of them.”   He smiles at her.  “And a son.   They used to be lizards, did anybody ever tell you that story?”  
  
“I am familiar with that anecdote.   Your daughter Shannon.”  
  
“Oh, _Shannon_.   What’s she done now?”  
  
“She has created some disorder among the Borg children.”  
  
Tom ran that statement through his Borg-to-human-being-translator a second time, but it still didn’t make sense in human.   “Uh, what kind of disorder?   Did she make some kind of … mess or something?   Usually Owen’s the one who makes messes.”  
  
“She has taught the children a human custom called ‘freeze tag’.   I have spoken to them and informed them that it is irrelevant, but they continue on with this custom.”   Seven looks at Tom severely.   “It is interfering with their daily schedule.”  
  
Tom laughed out loud.    He couldn’t help it.   Seven just looked at him in confusion.  
  
“I fail to see why this is amusing.”   she says.  
  
“Seven.”   he chuckles.   “This is a _game_.   It’s a _kid’s game_.   It’s _fun!_ ”   Then he looks at her.   “Right.   You forgot all about fun.    Fun was just … assimilated right on out of you, whoosh.”  
  
“The assimilation process did not include sounds  -“  
  
“Never mind, Seven.”   Tom sighs.   “I’ll … I’ll do something about Shannon, I guess.”  
  
“You shall implement a punishment protocol?”  
  
“Uh, something like that.”   He shrugs.   “I’ll figure something out.”  
  
  
  
Harry picked up the kids today, so Tom went home, mulling over the hypothetical ‘punishment protocol’ he was supposed to be implementing.     
  
“Harry?”   he says as he comes in.  
  
“Tom?”   Harry says in exactly the same tone.  
  
“Seven wanted to talk to me.”  
  
“Okay, what about?    I _swear_ , I didn’t do anything.”  
  
“You better not have.   I know where you sleep.”   Tom teased.   “No, it was nothing to do with you.  It was about Shannon.”  
  
“Okay …”   Harry looked just as confused as Tom had.  
  
“She was concerned because she was creating ‘disorder’ among the Borg kids.   Something about freeze tag?   It interrupts their schedule.”  
  
Now Harry was _smirking_ at him.    
  
“Stop that!   She expects _me_ to do something _about_ this!”  
  
“Like what?   Tell the kids not to have _fun_ anymore?”  
  
“Probably, yes!”  
  
“Well, Seven is Kathryn’s little project now.   Let _her_ handle this part.”   Harry says.     
  
Tom sighs.   “Okay.   I’ll do that.”    So he sends off a mail to Kathryn telling her about his conversation with Seven earlier and asking for her help.  
  
He can almost hear the amusement in the response.  
  
_Freeze tag is **disorder**?_  
  
_I’ll talk to her._  
  
_K._  
  
Tom sighs in relief and goes in to tuck in the kids.     
  
“Mezoti’s my friend now, daddy.”  Shannon says sleepily.   “She’s gonna teach me hair braiding like Harry knows.”  
  
“Sounds like a good idea.   You taught her freeze tag.”   Tom tucks her in, and their cat jumps up on her bed.  
  
“Today we played ‘Red Light Green Light.’   Shannon murmurs.   “Took a lot of ‘splanin.”  
  
“I bet it did, honey.  Did you do a good job?”  
  
“Yeah.”   Her grey eyes are closing.   “Was pretty fun.”  
  
“Good girl.”   He kisses her on the head, and turns out the light.


End file.
